Method and system for modification of EPG object attributes

ABSTRACT

A system for identifying prior selection of specific display information on an EPG. In one embodiment, a user selects an object on a screen, and upon selection of the object, an attribute of the object (e.g., color, transparency, etc.) is modified. The modified value is saved into memory so the user may later identify that the specific object was selected. Each subsequent selection will modify the attribute further, allowing the user to identity that the object was selected a number of times. In one embodiment, the attribute will continue to be modified until a specific expiration limit has been reached.

[0001] The present application claims priority to the provisional filedapplication entitled Modification of EPG Object Attributes to AllowInstantaneous Recognition of Frequency of Selection, filed on May 19,2000, Ser. No. 60/241,885, which is also incorporated herein byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates to the field electronic programmingguides.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] One of the disadvantages of an object-oriented electronicprogramming guide (EPG) displayed on a television or other similarscreen, as currently implemented, is that a user may find it difficultto recognize and remember the identity of each of the various objectsconcurrently displayed at any one time. To attempt to aid recognition,the objects may be assigned attributes such as shape, color, brightness,transparency, etc. to help the user identify objects as belonging withina certain category of programming event. However, because a user mayselect the objects within one category of objects very often, he may notalways be able to remember the identity of one particular object, asdistinguished from other objects in the same category. He may then wanta simple method of determining the identity of a particular displayrepresenting a desired category of interest.

[0004] It would therefore be desirable to further assist the user todetermine the content of an object.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] In one embodiment, a method and system for identifying priorselection of specific display information is disclosed. In oneembodiment, the method and system relate to an attribute of a displayedobject being connected to a selection procedure wherein a user selects adisplayed object and the attribute (e.g. the color blue) of thedisplayed object increments the display based on the frequency of userselection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] The present invention will be described by way of exemplaryembodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which:

[0007]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a screen that displays objectsto be incremented by a user, according to one embodiment.

[0008]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram describing how a displayed object isincremented due to user selection of specific display information,according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] In the following description, various aspects of the presentinvention will be described. However, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced with onlysome or all aspects of the present invention. For purposes ofexplanation, specific configurations are set forth in order to provide athorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will alsobe apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without the specific details. In other instances, well-knownfeatures are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the presentinvention.

[0010]FIG. 1 shows an example of an electronic programming guide (EPG).An EPG provides programming information, such as listings of programs,information about the programs, and the times the programs appear, sothat a user may access specific programs. Other information may also bedisplayed, for example, time remaining, ratings, pay-per-view programs,etc. EPGs are generally displayed in a grid-like manner, as shown inFIG. 1. Within a screen 100 are objects 101 a through 101 n that maydisplay available channel selections (e.g., channel 2, channel 4, etc.).Also within the screen 100 are objects 102 a through 102 n that maydisplay programming time slots (e.g., 8 p.m.-9 p.m., etc.). Objects 103a through 103 n (103 a and 103 b are only shown in FIG. 1) containinformation about the programming event offered to the viewer on thechannels and in the time slots covered by objects 101 and 102 (e.g.,news, sports). The varying objects 101, 102 and 103 all displayinformation to a user that helps the user decide on viewing options. Inalternative embodiments, varying configurations can be used that includemore or less objects of different types, without departing from theinvention.

[0011] The user may want to know, in using the EPG, whether he hasrecently selected an object (i.e., object 103 b). However, he may notwant to wait for the identity of the object 103 b he has selected toappear on the screen 100, only then to recall that this object 103 b hasalready been recently selected. Instead, in one embodiment, each timethe user selects an object 101, 102 or 103 that contains specificprogramming information (e.g., time, channel or programming event), oneof the attributes of the object 101, 102 or 103 is modified. Forexample, a news programming event, such as object 103 b has a bluebackground. On each consecutive (or non-consecutive) selection of thesame program object 103 b, that object 103 b will become darker. Theobject 103 b may move, for example, from a royal blue to a navy blue toa dark midnight blue with each consecutive selection. As a result, theuser can recognize that he has selected this object 103 b already,without needing reselect the object 103 b to ascertain its identity.

[0012] In another embodiment, other attributes, such as shape, surfacetexture, transparency, border color, or position in 3-D space, may bemodified each time the user selects that particular object 101, 102 or103. An example of one embodiment of a modification other than colormodification may be a change in the shape of the displayed object. Theshape of the object may start as a square and, upon subsequentselection, may change to resemble an oval or other such shape. Otherattributes not mentioned here may also be used for purposes ofascertaining recent selection of an object.

[0013] In addition, a cursor 104 shown on the screen 100 may be includedthat can be controlled by a user's pointing device. The pointing devicemay be one of many such devices well known in the art, such as a remotecontrol, a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, etc.

[0014]FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram describing how the attributevalues of an object are changed after each subsequent selection,according to one embodiment. In step 200, the attribute values of anobject 201 are related to a procedure wherein a user selects the object201 based on user preferences. The attribute values 201 are thencross-related in step 210 between a category of the object (e.g., newsbeing blue, sports being green) and the attribute values to be modifiedupon each subsequent selection (e.g., border color, object color,transparency, surface texture, etc.). In step 211, one or more of theappropriate attribute values are selected to be incremented in responseto the user's selection of the specific object 201 displayed on thescreen. Step 212 provides for the new attribute values 201 to be storedback in memory for the specific object for use at the next userselection. In step 213 the visible object is adjusted to use the newattribute values stored in memory 201. At step 214, the incrementedattribute values reach a specific expiration limit and the attributevalue of the object returns to the initial state that it was in prior touser selection.

[0015] In one embodiment, the attribute values may be incrementedbetween a first state, the state of the object prior to initialselection, and a second state, the state of the object prior to anexpiration value limit. An expiration value limit may be a time limit(e.g., every 4 hours, every 2 days) or a selection limit (e.g., every 10selections). The attribute values in 201 may be periodically overwrittenwith default values when the specific expiration limit has been reached.In addition, in one embodiment, each new event object is created withdefault attribute values. In some cases, the modified values may expireand return to default values when that object is no longer in activeuse.

[0016] It is clear that various modifications of this scheme can bedevised, none of which should change the novel art of allowing the userto recognize, without investigating its content, whether he has recentlyselected an object or not. And by offering incremental modification ofattributes, the user can recognize not only whether he has selected theobject before, but also whether he has selected it frequently, asopposed to only once or twice.

[0017] The method described above can be stored in the memory of acomputer system as a set of instructions to be executed. In addition,the instructions to perform the method described above couldalternatively be stored on other forms of machine-readable media,including magnetic and optical disks. For example, the method of thepresent invention could be stored on machine-readable media, such asmagnetic disks or optical disks, which are accessible via a disk drive(or computer-readable medium drive). Further, the instructions can bedownloaded into a computing device over a data network in a form ofcompiled and linked version.

[0018] Alternatively, the logic to perform the methods as discussedabove, could be implemented in additional computer and/or machinereadable media, such as discrete hardware components as large-scaleintegrated circuits (LSI's), application-specific integrated circuits(ASIC's), firmware such as electrically erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EEPROM's); and electrical, optical, acoustical and other formsof propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc.); etc.

[0019] Although the present invention has been described with referenceto specific exemplary embodiments, it will be evident that variousmodifications and changes may be made to these embodiments withoutdeparting from the broader spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: (a) receiving a selection ofan object displayed in an EPG; (b) modifying an attribute associatedwith the object by a predetermined increment each time the object isselected; and (c) modifying the display of the object in accordance withthe modified attribute.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the attributeis a color to be darkened or lightened.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the attribute is a shape to be modified.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the attribute is a 3-D position to be modified.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the modified attribute is overwritten with a defaultattribute when an expiration value limit is reached.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the expiration value limit is a time limit.
 7. Themethod of claim 5, wherein the expiration value limit is related tofrequency of object selection.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein theobject is a channel selection field.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinthe object is a programming time slot field.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the object is a programming event information field.
 11. Asystem comprising: a first unit to receive a selection of an objectdisplayed in an EPG; a second unit to modify an attribute associatedwith an object by a predetermined increment each time the object isselected; and a third unit to modify the display of the object inaccordance with the modified attribute.
 12. The system of claim 11,wherein the attribute is a color to be darkened or lightened.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the attribute is a shape to be modified. 14.The system of claim 11, wherein the attribute is a 3-D position to bemodified.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the modified attribute isoverwritten with a default attribute when an expiration value limit isreached.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the expiration value limitis a time limit.
 17. The system of claim 15, wherein the expirationvalue limit is related to frequency of object selection.
 18. The systemof claim 11, wherein the object is a channel selection field.
 19. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the object is a programming time slot field.20. The system of claim 11, wherein the object is a programming eventinformation field.
 21. A machine-readable storage medium tangiblyembodying a sequence of instructions executable by the machine toperform a method for modifying display information, the methodcomprising: (a) receiving a selection of an object displayed in an EPG;(b) modifying an attribute associated with the object by a predeterminedincrement each time the object is selected; and (c) modifying thedisplay of the object in accordance with the modified attribute.
 22. Themachine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the attribute is a color tobe darkened or lightened.
 23. The machine-readable medium of claim 21,wherein the attribute is a shape to be modified.
 24. Themachine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the attribute is a 3-Dposition to be modified.
 25. The machine-readable medium of claim 21,wherein the modified attribute value is overwritten with a defaultattribute value when an expiration value limit is reached.
 26. Themachine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the expiration value limitis a time limit.
 27. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, whereinthe expiration value limit is related to frequency of object selection.28. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the object is achannel selection field.
 29. The machine-readable medium of claim 21,wherein the object is a programming time slot field.
 30. Themachine-readable medium of claim 21, wherein the object is a programmingevent information field.